"Hannah Hunt" - Modern Vampires of the City - Vampire Weekend
soundboard:
Vampire Weekend - Hannah Hunt
It leaked and I didn’t download it. It streamed and I didn’t listen to it. I used up every ounce of willpower I had to avoid it until its proper release. I’m so glad I did but the wait was starting to kill me. On Step, Ezra Koenig croons “Wisdom’s an honor, but you’d trade it for youth.” It’s startlingly poignant and honest for a band of 20-somethings that will be 30-somethings by their next assumed album cycle. They are no shorter for wisdom this time around. The album explores themes like the passage of time, mortality, and things, like love, not quite playing out as expected. Over three albums, we’ve seen Vampire Weekend mature. Everything about this release has been calculated, from the early “LP3” promos with the Revolutionary War backdrops to the Tumblr-ready album cover to the lyric videos to the burning Saabs, all laden with their typical sans-serif coolness.
The arrangement of Hannah Hunt is simply beautiful. With a minute left, a beleaguered Ezra induces chills with his own frustration. Having their “own sense of time” is no longer presented as a good thing, and the figure of Hannah Hunt, the only one that can read his mind, may no longer be a part of his future. He’s not quite sure.
